Abstract

The Panna–Mukta fields host hydrocarbons in the Bassein Formation Eocene–Oligocene ramp limestones. The pore system is almost wholly secondary, comprising microporosity, mouldic porosity, vugs, solution-enlarged stylolites and fractures. Although petrographical evidence points to dissolution after extensive late cementation, the presence of a high permeability layer close to a palaeokarstic surface at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary has raised the possibility that this secondary porosity could be related to subaerial exposure. However, the Panna–Mukta reservoirs show a strong correlation between secondary matrix porosity and stylolite density measured from cores. Stylolites only developed in ‘clean’ limestones lacking argillaceous material, whereas more argillaceous limestones in the succession are characterized by dissolution seams and have poor reservoir quality. These cleaner limestones occur preferentially below the Eocene–Oligocene boundary, representing an upwards-shallowing sequence, whereas the argillaceous limestones occur further below the Eocene–Oligocene boundary in the lower part of the same shallowing-upwards sequence and in the transgressive limestones at the base of the Bassein A. This secondary porosity distribution suggests movement of corrosive fluids along pre-existing stylolites. Despite an apparent link between porosity distribution and an unconformity, secondary porosity development was mesogenetic and related to the distribution of facies that favoured stylolites that acted as conduits for the flow of corrosive fluids. The Bassein Formation reservoirs show unequivocal evidence of significant porosity development by mesogenetic dissolution but the exact process or processes by which such porosity creation occurs requires further work.

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